How should BT Trains conduct business on the JNS Forum System

[disturbman]

Just to say, there was never a discussion of having dealers taking a bigger space here. We are a forum by and for hobbyists and people sharing one loose common interest in Japanese rail. We all invest our time and energy here, which makes JNS a great community, and this commodity is not for sale to anyone.

[cteno4]

sorry i did not mean to imply there was discussion of this, just responding to bob's post of potential discussion of a membership level for dealers.

 

ive said my piece here and moving on.

 

jeff

[The_Ghan]

See my response to cteno4's comments below.

 

Keep up the good work Jeff.  You're tops mate!

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

 

Ghan just made me think of something here. his comment that having bttrains post everywhere about their wares was ok since we only really have one retailer and thus not a nuisance, if we had more then it might be so we would stop it. hmmm ... that's not what I said, or meant ... "I think restricting BT to a single thread under Suppliers would be a little harsh" ... and ... "I don't have a problem with a one-liner saying that BT has 6 on order.  But I would have a problem if BT did this every other day or repeated the message" ...

 

so this is the things about having some rules/limits in place even when there may only be one dealer on the forum. is it fair to the other retailers as only bttrains is getting exclusive use of the forum now. only because other dealers CHOOSE not to come and post here ... surely Admin hasn't entered an exclusivity agreement with BT, have they? this is because if they did come in then we probably would shut down dealers posting everywhere with commercial posts as it would be too much for too many folks. I'd agree to shutting down (banning) anyone who misuses the environment that our Admin have worked so hard to establish and maintain.

 

so the rule thinking of more than one needs to be enforced even if its only one is currently present to be fair all in the long run.

 

bob, also you are not the only one helping pay for the forum. donations come from many of us to utilize the service. one of the reasons i donate each year to jns is to keep it free of advertising and support it being a basically hobbyist only forum. in addition there is also a much larger hidden cost to the forum that many of us give very freely and thats our time, knowledge and experience. Again i am happy to do this to help the hobby along the best i can and learn more myself. but its a big investment on my part to the forum. i do this for the other hobbists and not for businesses. I am happy when well run little businesses are successful in the hobby as we have to have them to have the hobby, but my investment here is not focused on those businesses. i am happy to help them where i can and i have evangelized bttrains to many folks at shows and such when asked where to get japanese trains.  I have only recently learned that Jeff does a lot for members of this forum OUTSIDE of this forum.  He has personally offered assistance to me via pm also.  He probably gives more than he gets here, as do Admin and a number of key members.  This little utopia is set up free of the bondage that so often comes with donations and sponsorship.  It's a special place and deserves to be kept that way.  A donation doesn't entitle one to additional rights and shouldn't, either!  But, as I said in my colourful (literally) post earlier, if BT Trains posts relevant info such as in my example, who's to complain, really?  Let's face it, he could glean the threads of the forum to establish market trends, etc, anyway, without making any form of contribution whatsoever.  Selling trains is a love-job.  You don't get rich.  You make a living, not a killing.  It's a luxury hobby and is subject to the market forces that affect most other similar businesses.  So Bob is here because he loves trains, like the rest of us.  In that capacity, as a model train enthusiast, he must surely be allowed to post appropriately.

 

the more i have thought about having dealer membership donations to buy in and get more access to posting elsewhere on the site, the more i dont like that idea from the thoughts expressed above. i like the forum being hobbyists and very minimal direct commercial input and i just see the gray areas remaining too gray and falling apart easily if other dealers come in. in not a huge rule fan, but with more variables you end up having to do them and keep to them or things tend to descend quickly...donations to buy in ... there's food for thought!  Our utopia gone?  I get Jeff's position here.  Seriously!  What's going to happen with BT lets a customer down and they post a condemning thread here?  Will there be pressure to remove the thread?  I seriously doubt it.  We are a small, level headed group (except for keitaro, who keeps making me buy more stuff) but I see where Jeff is heading.  Still, I believe that if the content is right the BT should be able to post, as per my examples.

 

jeff

[The_Ghan]

sorry i did not mean to imply there was discussion of this, just responding to bob's post of potential discussion of a membership level for dealers.

 

ive said my piece here and moving on.

 

jeff

 

Yes, I didn't take much notice of that.  Actually, I misunderstood it.  I thought BT meant they were giving a membership level to JNS people for an extra discount when they shop at BT.  As I don't, I didn't pay attention.  A dealer membership level to JNS would encourage a bias here, but I think I've pointed that out already.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[CaptOblivious]

OK, so I think the matter is pretty much settled. Mods, chime in if I've got something wrong.

 

-No requirements for separate accounts specifically for commercial entities. This has been discarded as a stupid idea.

 

-Retailers, suppliers, dealers, etc. are permitted to open commercial threads in Platform 3 - Products and Retailers > Suppliers

 

In particular, retailers should generally restrict themselves to a single thread there dedicated to announcements, specials, etc.

 

-Manufacturers are permitted to open commercial threads in Platform 3 - Products and Retailers > New Releases and product Announcements

 

-Commercial postings posted elsewhere on the forum will be moved or deleted.

 

-Above all else, these are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Use common sense. For example, a retailer that has a hot new product that hasn't been discussed before might start a thread in New Releases and Product Announcements advertising it. Just keep to the basic idea of helping us keep commercial posts clearly separated from the remainder of the forum, and things should be fine. We really do welcome commercial postings here, we just want to maintain the right distance between adverts and content.